BADOLBILZ

The main reason I like Beane is because he got the organization to go all-in on a QB draft prospect for the first time in almost 60 years. They'd never simply used their very first 1st round pick in any draft......or traded up from that pick......to select a college QB. Not even Jim Kelly had been their top pick........they hedged their bets by selecting TE Tony Hunter at #12 overall and hoped Detroit or someone trading up at #13 would select one of the QB's to help them narrow their decision at pick #14. Beane had conviction about Josh Allen. You could argue that he could have had MORE given the luck that was necessary for him to make it to 7. But at least they had targeted their guy. Other Bills attempts to find a QB were always trades of #1's for veterans(RJ and Bledsoe) or moving up from a second pick(Losman) or trading back from a first pick(Manuel). The Bills organizational lack of conviction about the QB position was the main reason for their relative futility over their history prior to Josh Allen.

1) celebrate for a couple days 2) Then go to the parade 3) buy some SB champs gear in subsequent days 4) start thinking about free agency and draft and pitchers and catchers reporting etc..

Thanks to Bills embedded we got to see Beane in action when he was making the picks. The Cody Ford pick showed his logic at work. His logic was flawed. So I assign the picks to him.

Is there a fanbase in the NFL/MLB/NBA/NHL that has gained more from "keyboard warriors" and social media than the Bills fanbase? I don't think so. Before the whole "Bills Mafia" identity was created because of Bills fan twitter outrage..........Bills fans were just a largely unrecognized collection of tribes who shared a common hostility about not getting any respect or due acknowledgement nationally for their devotion to the team. Now that we've been effectively unionized and acknowledged, the gameday experience is much less about that chip on the shoulder and rage at opposing fans and media and more about the party and maintaining the reputation for being generous etc.. See the response to the few idiots who attacked Tyler Bass. It's been an outsized reaction of positivity.

It's been annoying listening to Beane's excuses for the terrible mistakes with money and pro personnel in general in his first 2-3 seasons. I've made that point here probably hundreds of times since then. But I also give him some credit for cleverly avoiding taking any real responsibility for any of it. That is the way of the con-man and fans eat that confidence up and bought him a lot of runway. Smart. And it's not like it's a house of cards with him, he was just terribly unqualified as a personnel and salary cap man when he got the job and has been faking it til' he makes it in that regard. As pure executive he was immediately a great hire to steady the ship for the Pegula's. They needed that aspect of his job more than anything because they were floundering. And I think his personnel work has greatly improved with experience and I expect that to continue. But he still has ground to make up because of past mistakes.

They were probably determining PI or Illegal contact based on where the football was at the moment of contact. Whether they got the exact call right isn't really that material.........they properly called a penalty which resulted in a short gain and an automatic first down. Dorian Williams clearly looked at the receiver and threw his body into him to impede his progress toward the point where Mahomes threw the ball.

What non-Bills fans think of our fan base is something I could not care less about. What was important was that the fanbase unite and become an entity separate from the team, IMO. The group as a whole had to embrace the "whatever" of being a Bills fan the way many of us did showing up every week during the drought despite Ralph Wilson's decades long poor stewardship of the on-field product and he and Jeff Littman ceasing to run a competitive organization for the last decade+ of Ralph's life. In some of the 70's and the mid-80's when Ralph put bad teams on the field people stayed away in droves. We were passionate but the support was much more conditional. The model to me was always Chicago Cubs fans. I attended a number of games at Wrigley and was always impressed by their focus on having fun as a group as much or more than the results on the field. Their embracing of the Cubs fan experience despite 100 years of futility was the example. I just wondered for years how those of us who prioritized our shared fandom above the results on the scoreboard would get that to translate en masse. Then the whole "Bills Mafia" social media driven hokey nonsense took off we were a largely fractured group of passionate consumers. As much as I hated seeing some of the posers and douchebags that jumped on the bandwagon once Bills fans had a fun identity..........it is totally worth it. Having that distinct identity as a fan base has changed everything for the better, IMO. That's all I care about. How it impacts us.

I like Beane but the biggest reason he is in the situation he is with the cap can be traced directly to his terrible personnel decisions in 2018. He spent $100M on total garbage in free agency.........and actually paid out a ton of that even when he should have been cutting bait later in those contracts. He has gotten much more efficient on the job but it's been a gradual climb from terrible to mediocre to improved levels of efficiency. Blaming the cap situation on the cap figure dropping due to covid is a cop-out........but the truth is if he were honest about the fact that he was terrible wrt pro personnel and cap management in his first couple years there would be nothing to gain from that honesty whatsoever. Just more criticism. He has basically faked it til' he's made it.........and NOW that he has a better grasp on what he's doing he really needs to put that expensive experience to work and knock it out of the park in the next few offseasons. As I've said before, Howie Roseman wasn't always a great GM.........he grew into it. Beane needs to build off of the successes in recent drafts and the more efficient(if not always satisfying) results he's gotten in free agency. Also needs to be a bit more ruthless, IMO.

The tendency is to think that speed and quickness are the first things to go.........hence "lost a step"..........but hand-eye coordination is often the first sign of the end for great receivers. That's how it went for James Lofton. He could still get open and over the top of defenses right until the end. He just started dropping passes left and right late in the 1992 season.....leading to his release from the Bills........and the drops continued as he quickly circled the drain in 1993. More recently, TO was still a freak athlete long after he was a star WR. He could still run at the end but his hands had gotten comically bad.

Shakir surprised me but I think this debate takes us back to where the Bills were when Cole Beasley was considered WR2 statistically. Technically, he had the second most catches and yardage. By a lot. But you want your boundary receivers to be WR1 and WR1B or the second at least a clear WR2. Will Shakir become a guy they throw deep to? We haven't seen that yet. They tried him more in that role in 2022 but he struggled to track the deep ball. If you are weak on the boundary it's hard to beat teams over the top and open up the rest of your offense. The Bills were overmatched on the boundary against KC. So all 4 of the 30+ air yards throws fell incomplete. So regardless of what label we want to put on Shakir, the Bills are weak on the boundary. And those are those "island" positions that are worth the big bucks for a reason.

You can maintain "contact" from the snap thru 5 yards. Contact like having a hand on the receiver. That doesn't include all kinds of contact. An off-defender like Williams in this case can't just throw a shoulder or forearm into a receiver as they cross the field the way they did. If that were allowed everyone would do it to take away shallow crossers. It was blatant and obvious. If he just backs into the receiver without looking at him and clearly forcing a collision, maybe it gets chalked up as incidental contact. I've seen Milano get away with that before. But Wiliams wasn't nearly that subtle. Unfortunately, because for those of us at the game most didn't see that contact until they showed us the replay. At which point there was little disagreement with the call.

Like I said, we'll have to agree to disagree. Because the Chiefs scored on every drive except that one and the one where they fumbled at the Bills 1 yard line. And yeah, Dorian Wiliams made intentional illegal contact with the receiver on that PI.

The Chiefs per-play offensive production was simply off the charts. The Bills, depleted, injured and slow back 7.....and the presumably fresh and punchless front 4....... wasn't stopping the Chiefs from scoring a TD playing 4 down football with nearly 2 minutes and 2 timeouts. Thinking otherwise is what would have been patently ridiculous. I'd have done what Belichick and Parcells would have done there. Kept chopping the better teams defense up a little piece at a time to keep the ball out of their hands. I trust my single season record setting rushing TD QB to "thread the impossible needle" of pounding the ball across the goal line when it comes to that. But that would have been sound strategic football. Though, admittedly it would have been better for TV if Allen hit's that strike on 2nd and 9. Would have been reminiscent of the final TD pass Allen threw to Davis in the 13 second game. Then when Mahomes and Kelce subsequently take the Chiefs down the field for the game winning TD.........well that would have ensured the next such matchup in the playoffs would get those 58 million viewers back and then some.

What narrative about him did he dispel that will make him more attractive? You aren't making sense about the "draft bust" thing being a knock on him coming into his age 31 season. He cleared that "draft bust" notion like 5-6 years ago. He had a hot start to the 2023 season but totally vanished in the last 7 games. That isn't likely to be lost on prospective employers who are generally loathe to pay 32-33 year old non-HOF pass rushers any significant money. A one-word synopsis of what he put on tape during that stretch is "washed". It may be because of injury but it was what it was. I don't see the Bills even giving Floyd another $9M 1 year deal.........but Beane isn't great with the cap so we can't rule it out.

Eh, she's OK. Everyone has different priorities. She has her own money and a career that keeps her occupied........those are her most attractive features from my perspective. But they also seem to align with the priorities of off-season vacation Josh. I'd just rather see Josh find a no-doubter and settle down so he feels compelled by circumstance to go to work instead of a different golf course every day. Worked for Mahomes and Brady.

Here is my 2,000 words on Kliff..... Maybe that would get Josh to up his lady game a bit, if nothing else.

I'm with you on Diggs not catching that ball. If they were going to be taking shot plays like that 2nd and 9 without concern about giving the Chiefs the last possession.........well, hitting that pass at the 8 minute mark would have helped because they might have been able to score with 6 minutes or so left and then have the ball again at the end if the Chiefs had then scored. The Chiefs were gouging the Bills defense at a near historic rate in that game so it wouldn't have taken them more than 3-4 minutes max to score a TD if they knew that was likely their last possession. Once the clock got down under 4 minutes the strategy needed to turn to "make this the last possession of the game". I think to most that seemed to be the objective. But regarding Diggs specifically.........he may be washed........but they almost got 4 GREAT years out of Diggs. 1st round contracts are 4 years cheap and then an option for an expensive season. They gave away a little more than that in trade but they got good value for the basic value of those picks. Just sucks that the 22nd pick in the 2020 draft ended up being Jefferson and not one of the 4 people selected before him or 2 after. And that the cap strapped Bills felt compelled to extend him. I was not in favor of extending him early but in getting a fairly complicated personality in Diggs they weren't going to be able to get by letting him get to his walk year so they probably would have extended him this past offseason even if they declined to do so in spring of 2022. The mistake they made was not addressing WR in the draft before and after the Diggs trade. That put them in the position to need to trade for him and then to have to extend him.

It's time for a change at DL coach either way. Not saying Washington isn't sound..........but they have a veteran DL group that has underwhelmed too often. And not talking about the Chiefs or Bengals games.........nobody sacked either Mahomes or Allen in this most recent game.........the very best in their primes aren't going to get sacked much. Just too many games where the uber-invested and rotation-fresh DL underwhelmed against sack magnet QB's.

Yeah, makable field goals aren't guaranteed either. I'm living and dying with Josh Allen in the redzone playing 4 down football there. And I love those chances. The offense was grinding the Chiefs vulnerable run and short passing defense down. Killing them with short gains. They instead played into the strength of the Chiefs defense.........downfield pass defense.........and as much as people want to claim that was a sure TD pass there isn't nearly enough data this season that suggests that to be the case. Quite the opposite. Impose your will and win or go out with your boots on. I'm not giving the Chiefs the ball back until I make them use those timeouts..........and preferably not until there is well under a minute left to move the ball 75 yards. It's how Parcells and Belichick would have done it.

I clearly explained why the fans "gut feel" that he would complete it was irrelevant. He played out of his head in the Eagles game as well and 2 similar throws end up on the turf. One to Sherfield early and the Gabe one in OT. You can be OK with the result because you wanted the spectacular completion at the risk of 3rd and 9.......but it wasn't the right move. That's BEFORE giving the Chiefs the ball back with that much time and 2 timeouts to play 4 down football for the first time all game. That would have very likely ended just the same as the Eagles game or the 13 seconds game. The defense had forced a punt only 1 time all game. The only other possession the Chiefs didn't score on they fumbled at the 1.

Then you could argue he made the right call on a similar throw in OT to Gabe against the Eagles. Blame whoever you want but that ball also ultimately landed well off the mark. Game lost. If people are OK with Josh deciding games late by choosing to make throws only he and a handful of others would even attempt...........after proving they could just march their way down in small chunks all game............and as opposed to taking what may be more situationally appropriate like most other QB's would have to.........then that's that fans choice. Honestly, I'd rather have a spectacular Josh Allen for 10 years and never win a SB and then have to find another QB.........than instead win one SB with a journeyman starter and have a bunch of other run of the mill QB's that I have to watch. Ideally you get spectacular and SB's........but sometimes superstars and just doing what it takes to win don't align. But I'm not a finish line Bills fan. My NCAAF team and MLB team have combined for 12 titles during my viewing life so it's not a tragedy to me if the Bills never do. Being a Bills fan is a lifestyle for me and winning a SB only changes maybe a couple banners or flags I might fly. That's it. But none of that changes the fact that the decision to hurl that ball 30+ air yards into the end zone on 2nd and 9 just wasn't the right move strategically speaking. It was the wrong decision on multiple levels.

So if Chris Jones wasn't a known great pass rusher.........and if Josh completed a specific throw that he has turfed for various reasons in big situations this season even WITHOUT significant pressure.........and completed a throw for more air yards than any other completion of his in the game and more air yards than any Shakir completion all season..........then it was definitely a TD? If you are going to live in the land of make believe that's your prerogative, but it was a low % completion throw based on all of the most recent Josh/Bills data.

I just don't think they buy into Allen NEEDING more weapons. I think they see that as an "in an ideal situation we'd have more weapons". But they haven't prioritized it since 2020 with the Diggs trade. And with the cap tightening it will get harder to stock that cupboard. Pass rush has been priority #1.

I'm most concerned with the self-fulfilling prophecy aspect. Lesser coaches than McD have won and will win SB's. But when you get a reputation for coming up short in big situations..........in a room of 20 and 30 something dudes who are easily sucked into narratives by nature........well, I think it becomes a task in itself to reverse that notion.

But the draft is a craps shoot!